Not many of us can claim to have dipped our handkerchiefs in Charles I's blood after his execution, or to have watched Vesuvius erupt, but that's about to change... Wyllie, Acton & Goldblatt's Time Travel Handbook offers eighteen exceptional trips to the past, transporting you back to the greatest spectacles in history. We offer the chance to join Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and to march on Versailles with the revolutionary women of Paris. You can sail with Captain Cook to Tahiti and Australia, and spend time at Xanadu with Marco Polo and Kubla Khan. Or, closer to the present, you might accompany Charlie Parker at the birth of bebop or The Beatles in Hamburg, and take part in the VE Day celebrations in London or the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The notable authors and time travel agents, Wyllie, Acton & Goldblatt are your guide to these and other unmissable events, charting the action as it will unfold, and advising on local customs, and what to wear, eat and drink, for the most authentic of experiences. Forget museums, forget history books - the only way to do history is to live it.

The must-have guide to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games

Next summer, millions of Americans will tune into the Olympic Games, the largest and most popular sporting event in the world. Yet while it's easy to be fascinated by agile gymnasts, poised equestrians, and perfectly synchronized swimmers, few of us know the real width of a balance beam, the intricate regulations of dressage, or the origin of those crowd-pleasing legs-in-the-air swimming formations. Luckily, David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton have created this utterly thorough and always fun guide to the rules, strategy, and history of each sport. With witty, detailed descriptions and clever illustrations, "How to Watch the Olympics" will help anyone grasp handball, archery, wrestling, fencing, and every other Olympic event like a true pro.

This is the one book on the Olympics you really do need.

The Olympics is the world's biggest sporting event - and it moves centre stage for London 2012. Yet the sports the world is familiar with - football, cricket, rugby, baseball, motor sports - are either missing or have a token presence. In their place are games that most of us have not a clue how to play or to watch. Which is where this witty, insightful book comes into play, offering the back story behind each Olympics sport and, by means of fiendishly clever diagrams and prose, explaining the rules and finer points.

Once you've read David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton's accounts, you'll be on tenterhooks to see whether the Danish or the Koreans triumph at handball, just what the Italian fencers are up to, and if Greco-Roman wrestling really is like a game of chess.